Smarty Marti Vanquishes Valencia

Sunday, November 10, 2013

t was an amazing weekend here in sunny Valencia, Spain. Monsters clashed with heroes, Gods bestowed their favors on their devoted followers, and 1,076 players battled for the title of Grand Prix champion. In the end, it was 20-year-old Samuel Marti from Switzerland who defeated all comers and took the title and trophy.

Grand Prix Valencia marked the third time Theros Limited was played at the GP level. Since its debut at the beginning of October hundreds of thousands of games of Sealed Deck and Booster Draft had been played all over the world, and this tournament added quite a few more. The format was well-explored even before the event, but players still found ways to improve on established archetypes, to streamline certain strategies, and to combine the various pieces in new and exciting ways.

And Theros Limited truly came a long way. A little over two months ago, a deck with several five- and six-mana spells had taken the title—now it was time for more tempo-oriented decks to shine. Blue-White Heroes was one of them, as piloted by finalist Andrii Gusiev, while Samuel Marti perfected his green-blue strategy. Vaporkin and Nimbus Naiad were key cards in his decks throughout the weekend and also high picks for many other drafters.

Marti had read the signs and was deservedly crowned champion of Grand Prix Valencia 2013. Congratulations!

Once those scrys kicked in though, things turned south for Laizans. Soon Thassa was joined by Nessian Asp and Arbor Colossus, to give Marti a fairly devastatingly large board. Reverent Hunter from Laizans was only about the same size as Arbor Colossus, which given the potential for monstrosity was not really big enough.

Of course, when it comes to big, nothing quite says big like Polukranos, World Eater. That was Laizans play, followed by Vulpine Goliath. The blue/green boards were each bigger than the boards of any other match in the top eight, but neither player could dare attack while the other could then swing back. In the long run Thassa's ability seemed to mean the matchup would favour Marti, but the game was too close to call.

Samuel Marti and Aleksejs Laizans

Voyage's End on Polukranos in response to the ability is a good way to stop monstrosity, and that's exactly what Marti had up his sleeve. Now was the time that Laizans felt compelled to attack, as he was facing lethal, but he could only get Marti to one life on his swings. Laizans didn't even wait for the attack for his opponent, scooping to appropriate blocks.

The god came down, but again didn't really get active, so much as help out Marti's draws, and threaten unblockability for his team. It turns out that's pretty good anyway. That Chimera hung around for a long time though, and its lifegain (along with a little more from Cutthroat Maneuver) kept Laizans in the game long enough to both cast Polukranos, and start eating some worlds. While Marti had shown the faster start, it was Laizans that finished things, forcing a game three.

The third game showed something that hadn't been seen in either of those that preceded it. Prophet of Kruphix came down for Laizans, allowing all manner of tricks. An end of turn Staunch-Hearted Warrior came down, got enchanted by Baleful Eidolon, and got stuck right in. Marti, meanwhile, was being held off Nessian Asp with Voyage's End, and was wary of attacking with too much, not knowing what he might need to be able to block.

It was a mercy to Marti that it didn't seem Laizans had drawn too much in creatures since his prophet, but he was still taking lumps from that Staunch-Hearted Warrior. Marti built up his board gradually, looking for an occasion to launch an unblockable attack thanks to Thassa. When that attack finally came, Laizans disconsolately threw a hand of lands onto the table. He hadn't drawn what he needed and Marti's patience had been rewarded with a 2-1 win.

Samuel Marti wins 2-1 over Aleksejs Laizans

Andrii Gusiev vs. Piero Lombardi

This was the battle of the blue white heroic from Gusiev and green white bestow from Lombardi. While Lombardi had Bow of Nylea to do all manner of tricks, and plenty of ways of making Hopeful Eidolon bigger, Gusiev had a relentless Wingsteed Rider, which soon grew to 6/6 in size following successive tricks. When joined by another 'dragon' in the form of Horizon Scholar, this represented a clock that even Lombardi's lifegain could not bluster past. The air force kept getting bigger all the time and with Prognostic Sphinx next from Guisev that was enough for Lombardi to pack up his cards and move on to game two.

Andri Gusiev wins a quick 2-0 match against Piero Lombardi

Roberto Maestro vs. Eddie Chalecki Cuenca

Red blue vs red green initially seemed to favour the red blue deck from Roberto Maestro, which with multiple copies of Minotaur Skullcleaver was able to present a quick clock, that was backed up by Sea God's Revenge. That was enough to take a quick game one.

Game two Maestro looked to do the same as the first game, and was very aggressive with a Firedrinker Satyr. It traded off early, and Maestro had more to follow up, including a Minotaur Skullcleaver to again reduce Eddie Chalecki Cuenca's life total in a fairly sizeable chunk.

Chalecki Cuenca's deck had not really coughed up too much defence in the first game, and in game two he was similarly afflicted. He had warm bodies in the form of Agent of Horizons and Flamespeaker Adept, but was loath to put them in the way of hasty 4/2 creatures. When Nemesis of Mortals came down, Maestro took pause. Here was something that could conceivably race his attack force. Fanatic of Mogis came down and put Chalecki Cuenca to 12, before attacks made it eight.

Eddie Chalecki Cuenca and Roberto Maestro

A Lightning Strike from Chalecki Cuenca killed off the Fanatic, leaving him able to run in with Nemesis of Mortals. This was enough to leave Maestro mostly dead. However, mostly dead is not the same as dead, and Sea God's Revenge proved decisive in making game two's race a little tighter. In what became something of a staring contest, each player gradually committed more creatures to the board, Maestro building, and Chalecki Cuenca rebuilding. Pheres-Band Centaurs looked decisive in the face of the red/blue deck as far bigger than anything else on the board, but with each player dead to just about any successful attack, neither player was keen to swing unless they knew they were fairly safe.

While Nemesis of Mortals was instrumental in Chalecki Cuenca winning the third game, it had a little help from its friends. An Agent of Horizons was able to get some cheeky hits in, before gaining a Feral Invocation to make those hits entirely less playful. Maestro's deck might have been effective at applying early pressure, but in the face of larger monsters from the red/green deck, it wasn't in great shape. Maestro proved himself to be a mere mortal, and succumbed in the face of his nemesis.

Eddie Chalecki Cuenca wins 2-1 against Roberto Maestro

Semifinals - Valentin Mackl vs. Samuel Marti

by Tobi Henke

With the all-important hurdle of the quarterfinal taken and the invite to Pro Tour Born of the Gods secured, the atmosphere in this semifinal match was noticeably more relaxed than in the quarters. Now, "only" additional cash prizes and various trophies were on the line. Playing in his second Grand Prix Top 8, Austrian Valentin Mackl was facing Switzerland's Samuel Marti playing his first.

Mackl had drafted an amazing almost mono-black devotion deck featuring three copies of Gray Merchant of Asphodel and just a few choice bits of white like Triad of Fates, while Marti again entrusted his fate to the archetype that had got him a 3-0 record earlier today, a green-blue tempo deck.

Obviously disappointed with his deck's performance, Mackl lamented, "Coming so close ... Almost being able to smell the trophy and then, in the blink of an eye, it's all gone."

Valentin Mackl 0-2 Samuel Marti

Semifinals - Eddie Chalecki Cuenca vs. Andrii Gusiev

by Tobi Henke

In this semifinal Eddie Chalecki Cuenca, the last remaining Spaniard in the tournament, met Andrii Gusiev from the Ukraine. Chalecki had drafted a red-green midrange deck, while Gusiev was running one of the standout archetypes of the format: UW Heroes.

Eddie Chalecki Cuenca 1-2 Andrii Gusiev

Finals - Samuel Marti vs. Andrii Gusiev

by Tim Willoughby

From nearly 1,100 players, we are down to just two. Samuel Marti from Geneva in Switzerland has a very powerful blue green deck that can accelerate to some of the biggest monsters in the format with multiple copies of Voyaging Satyr. Up against the monsters are the heroes of Anrdii Gusiev of the Ukraine. His blue white heroic deck had made short work of opposition in the quarters and semis, but the airforce he could assemble might have trouble against the likes of Nessian Asp and Arbor Colossus.

"A third green deck!" exclaimed Andrii Gusiev as he saw a Forest from his opponent. That he had beaten two already was possibly a good sign for how the matchup would go, but Samuel Marti's deck had some formidable threats, which would be deployed soon enough.

Without Voyaging Satyr, Marti was down to just one green source, and sat with an Arbor Colossus mocking him in his hand, as a Nimbus Naiad sent Phalanx leader to the air. In the face of such a blistering start, he was unable to mount an appropriate defence, and simply took a moment to study Gusiev's graveyard before scooping up his cards to go to game two.

Samuel Marti 0 – 1 Andrii Gusiev

For the second game, again there was a Voyaging Satyr from Marti, but this time there were more lands to go with it, and indeed a second copy of the 1/2 that untaps lands. A Traveling Philosopher from Gusiev was enchanted with Fate Foretold, but it seemed that the Ukrainian was playing a little fairer than in the previous game, without too much in the way of early heroics.

Even one game down, Samuel Marti was calm and ready to play.

Marti took this as a sign to go for the throat. He cast Arbor Colossus, and proceded to dominate a red zone that he'd barely inhabited in game one. Nessian Asp joined the 6/6, creating a wave of pressure that seemed certain to force a game three. When the two massive creatures attacked in, it turned out that Gusiev did have some tricks though, with a Triton Tactics to at least keep the monsters tapped down for a while when they were both blocked.

While a Griptide briefly got rid of the Arbor Colossus, Gusiev did not have what he really needed to fight in the game, and it was just a few short attack steps later that Grand Prix Valencia moved on to what would be a deciding game for the entire tournament.

Samuel Marti 1 – 1 Andrii Gusiev

Gusiev's draw in what would be the deciding game seemed to be a little more aggressive than he'd managed just moments before. A turn two Traveling Philosopher was joined by Wingsteed Rider, while Marti did not have a turn two Voyaging Satyr this time to power out his bigger threats.

While Marti wasn't accelerating anything, he did still have Arbor Colossus on turn five, which was a great answer to Wingsteed Rider while it was a 3/3, and thanks to its monstrosity ability, even beyond then. Gusiev played out a Phalanx Leader, ruefully looking to a new hero to head up his team.

The trophy was within arms reach, just one game away for Andrii Gusiev.

Marti was not shy about killing Wingsteed Rider nice and early with his Colossus, not wanting to risk anything (and presumably being just fine with having a 9/9 into the bargain). He crashed in for an attack that in one swing nearly halved Gusiev's life. The Ukranian, who had previously most been involved with Magic by being a judge, simple gave a small shake of the head. This was a race that he didn't appear to be winning, but he tried his best with some attacks. Another swing put Gusiev at 2. While he had an Annul to stop Thassa, God of the Sea, he was slowly but surely now in a position where every attack step would cost him a creature as he had to throw blockers underneath the Colossus.

Marti was looking dominant. He had a Benthic Giant that had been chilling out and watching Arbor Colossus work, but as Marti drew Nimbus Naiad, it was time for the hexproof monster to join the party. Now with two formidable attackers, Gusiev was all out of answers. He extended his hand, as the first person to congratulate Samuel Marti, the Grand Prix Valencia 2014 Champion!

Top 5 Cards

Magic is all about stories, and of all the crazy plays seen during the Swiss rounds of Grand Prix Valencia, the most exciting one came in a feature match. Tymaret, the Murder King set up one of the most improbable turnarounds imaginable, with the following honourable mentions in support.

From one two mana 2/1 to another, we have the common most mentioned by the top eight players as being important to their plans. In a format with a lot of ways of pumping your creatures, the important thing becomes making sure you can actually get through, as there will potentially be big creatures everywhere. As a very efficient flyer indeed, it is a fantastic addition to just about any deck that can support it. Don't worry about that whole blocking clause. Who blocks anyway?

We could easily talk about any number of bestow creatures here, as virtually all of them were used to great effect all weekend. Looking at the top eight though, Nimbus Naiad was perhaps the most influential of the commonly seen bestow creatures in bringing wins out of nowhere. If we've already acknowledged the power of flying creatures in the format, and their interaction with bestow, what better than a bestow creature that grants so rarified an ability? Samuel Marti had plenty of monsters to work with, but it wasn't until he was able to send one to the air with this high pick common that he could raise the trophy as Grand Prix Valencia champion, making it a clear pick for one of the top five cards of the weekend.

Heroic is a very powerful ability, but without the ability to trigger it, even those creatures with the most heroic potential can find themselves easily outmatched. White is a colour with plenty of creatures with growth potential, and this combat trick is one of the best ways of achieving it. Being able to target two heroic creatures at the same time is frequenly enough to turn many tides, and even on other creatures it can drastically impact combat maths. Valentin Mackl took the view that this enabler was more important than the heroic creatures themselves for his second draft of Sunday, and was able to parlay the deck that followed (with three copies of the instant) into the wins he needed to make top eight.

The deck that Samuel Marti used to hoist the trophy at Grand Prix Valencia had both gods (Thassa, God of the Sea) and monsters (a cast of thousands with Arbor Colossus as the headliner). However, in many respects the real workhorse of his deck was in fact an innocuous 1/2 that can untap lands. With a few copies of the satyr, Marti was able to race the draws of even the most aggressive opponents, getting monsters into play earlier, and threatening their monstrosity abilities on time every time. Arbor Colossus is a lot easier to cast when you can untap a few Forests rather than needing your colours to come out just perfectly. There are lots of monsters you can draft, but there really isn't much to replace Voyaging Satyr in your green decks. If you aren't picking it highly you should start – it comes Grand Prix Champion recommended.